Speech prepared for the Fourteenth Commemoration of Vietnam Human Rights Day
 

By Iris Ho

May 8, 2008

Senate Caucus Room

On May 8, FAPA joined a host of human rights activists and Members of Congress to commemorate the 14th anniversary of Vietnam Human Rights day. Speakers included President of Radio Free Asia, Reps. Frank Wolf (R-VA), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Tom Davis (R-VA), Taiwan's representative to the U.S. Dr. Joseph Wu and others. Below is FAPA representative Iris Ho's speech at the event.

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It is my honor today representing my fellow Taiwanese and Taiwanese Americans to commemorate the 14th anniversary of Vietnam Human Rights Day.  All of us in this room – Vietnamese, Americans or Taiwanese like myself, have one thing in common – we unabashedly and unconditionally support freedom and liberty, whether it's in Burma, Sudan, Zimbabwe or China. And we all want a free and democratic Vietnam.

Freedom and liberty should be and can be a universal birth right. But it isn't. It isn't for Drs. Nguyen, or for Dr. Do. It wasn't for me.

Taiwan, where I was born and raised, wasn't free until I was 22 years old. In 1996, a mere decade ago, when I went to the voting booth for the first time in my life during Taiwan's first democratic and direct presidential election, Communist China lobbed missiles into the waters near Taiwan to stop voters like me from voting.  Hiding cowardly behind their missiles, Communist Chinese leaders failed in their plot to terrorize the people of Taiwan. Today Taiwan is a full-fledged democracy with an impressive economic power.

Taiwan did not do it alone. Taiwan's democratic transition had strong support from U.S. Congress, from monumental leaders like Senators Kennedy and Pell, and from prestigious organizations like Amnesty International. These international friends of Taiwan took a stand. They stood with and stood up for the people of Taiwan.  

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu once said, "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."

In the fight for human rights and democracy, maintaining neutrality is not an option. Being neutral is as guilty as those that commit the abuse. Because for those that are on the frontline, it is a matter of life and death.

That's why it's crucial for us activists and supporters of human rights worldwide to continue to stand firm and stand together with the oppressed, and continue to assert international pressure on authoritarian regimes like Vietnam or elsewhere in the world. That's the only way to defeat communism and authoritarianism.  Because liberty always, and eventually will prevail....